Darkbeast Paarl screeched loudly as it took a swipe at the King of Knights, electricity coursing through its claws. The blinding speed that this thing attacked was on par with that of a servant as Artoria met the lightning claws with the ethereal wind of Excalibur. Electricity and wind billowed from their clash.
Just as fast as it had attacked, it fled just as fast as Kiritsugu fired a shot with his Thompson Contender. It also nimbly jumped over a wave of flames that Tokiomi had fired off hoping to hit the beast. The beast of lightning taunted them with a laugh before attacking Saber once more.
The Loran silver beasts were crawling down the chamber walls but were being taken down from the walls as Irisviel's wired familiars were firing magical spells at anything scaling the wall.
On the other side of the gate was a whole different story. Diarmuid was having to fight the Abhorrent Beast head to head rather than Paarl's approach of getting a hit in than using its lightning-fast speed to dodge any attacks. The knight of Fianna was exchanging blows with his two spears as he dodged the beast's slams before stabbing its thick hide.
The Abhorrent Beast caught Gae Buidhe in his palm and was about to throw smash the poor servant with his other fist until a barrage of knives embedded themselves into his back. While one servant enhanced dagger wouldn't do too much, multiple daggers got a reaction out of him.
Roaring in pain, the beggar threw Lancer away as he focused his attention on the group of Assassins that attacked him. Realizing that they had gotten the beast's attention, they scattered like leaves in the wind. However, one Assassin was unlucky as the beggar was able to grab a leg and this time nothing would save this poor soul. Erratically, he began slamming the poor servant onto the ground before throwing its corpse at another Assassin copy that got crushed into the chamber walls.
"Assassin how many of you are still alive?" Maiya questioned as she unloaded a full clip of ammo in the mouth of a Loran silver beast. The now-dead beast slumped over as she surveyed their side of the chamber. The walls were covered in Kayneth's Volumen Hydrargyrum that impaled any beasts that entered through the numerous sewer passageways.
"Not as much as we would've liked," The purple pony-tailed Assassin known as Asako responded as she threw a trio of knives to an approaching group of silver beasts. "The assassins sent into the other sewer tunnels are being swarmed right now." The moment that the beggar had transformed into his abhorrent beast state, the once dead sewers began bustling with activity as lone Assassins got swarmed by silver beasts. Not many survived.
"There are about twenty of us left alive," Asako was cut short as another copy, a far more muscular copy, got its head bitten off by the beggar before its corpse was ripped in two. The copy's blood painting the beast in a far more sinister light.
"Nineteen now." She deadpanned.
"I haven't had this much fun since I tricked that poor family down at the Forbidden Forest, how delectable their despair was in their final moments," Laughed the beggar before noticing Lancer about to re-engage him in a fight. "And another delectable morsel comes to the slaughter."
"In the name of my king, I shall end you here beast!"
"Amusing," Lancer slid under a swipe before stabbing Gae Dearg in the beast's abdomen. Even with the red spear's special ability, the beggar's thick skin reduced the Noble Phantasm into a mere spear that could still cause some damage. Swiftly standing up, Diarmuid settled into a stance ready to deal with whatever came his way.
"Loyalty was it, how amusing that you humans cling so tightly to such fickle ideas. It's no wonder you make the saddest of stories." He laughed as he threw another series of punches at the knight.
"You would mock my loyalty to my king?" Diarmuid met the onslaught of punches with quick jabs of his two spears, each side unable to. The exchange of blows soon stalemated as the beast caught the two spears with his hands.
"You speak of loyalty like it has helped you in any way. After all, you betrayed your great friend Fionn," The beast smiled maliciously as it leaned in so close that Diarmuid could smell its retching breath.
"I didn't wish to betray him!" He argued as he tried to break his spears free from the beggar's grasp. "I tried to atone for it!"
"And in your blind loyalty, you believed that he would not hold any resentment. You believed that blind loyalty would save you but, in the end, it would prove to be your downfall." The beast nudged his head towards his master who was busy using his mercury orb in killing the waves of silver beasts pouring in.
"Even in a new life, your blind loyalty has turned your master against you. He has seen how you have enamored his wife with your noble character and looks, how you are a saint compared to him," The beggar looked back at him. "He would not hesitate to off you if it meant saving his wife."
"You lie," He snarled at the beast.
The beggar looked hurt, or it seemed like it before he leaned dangerously close to him as he whispered into his ear. "Then I suppose we will have to test such loyalty don't we," He slammed his feet into the ground before throwing the knight up into the ceiling. With his adversary temporarily out of the way, he focused on his master. With a roar, he shot forth an air blast with both of his fists that launched the poor magus off his footing. While such a shot would not launch Kayneth into the air, it did push him close enough to a trapdoor that opened just as his foot shakily landed on it.
With a scream, Kayneth fell deeper into the dark abyss of the sewers.
"Now then Diarmuid, let us see if bonds truly mean anything in the face of death."
Back on the other side of the chamber, Paarl was darting around the room erratically as it evaded Saber's attempts to hit it. Paarl was proving to be a pain in trying to hit as it seamlessly transitioned from attacking to evading. However, its luck would soon finally run out.
After having finally analyzed how Saber was essentially herding the beast into a particular pattern, Tokiomi fired off a barrage of fireballs that hit the beast dead on. Its pained cries filled the room as its electricity infused body was now bathing in hot fire.
With a snarl Paarl leaped at the Tohsaka magus, claws ready to shred the poor magus into ribbons.
The poor dark beast forgot the crucial fact that there was another magus present in the room. As the flame parted from its face, Paarl could see Kiritsugu impassively staring at him; Thompson Contender aimed right at him.
"Checkmate," He said. With the press of the trigger, a single bullet flew out of the mystic code and into the skeletal back of the beast. In a loud shriek, all of Paarl's built-up electricity was destroyed as it collapsed mid-way into a pile of bones, struggling to pick itself up. Artoria was not going to waste this opportunity.
"HAH!" She yelled as she closed the distance between her and Paarl. The skull face of Paarl could only turn just in time as the King of Knight's armored fist slammed itself into its face, a sickening crunch resounded from the impact.
Not letting up the assault, she two-handed Excalibur as the divine blade scraped across the floor as it launched the downed dark beast into the air. "Strike Wind!" She yelled as she held the blade into a rapier position and shot the divine winds into the falling beast. Paarl roared in pain as its body slammed into the gate, tearing the divider into pieces as it was launched into the Abhorrent Beast. The beggar and Paarl were both slammed into a wall.
With the gate having a hole punched right through it, the team finally regrouped with each other.
"Kiritsugu are you alright!" Maiya yelled in worry.
"I'm fine, thanks for asking," He gave a rare smile before slipping back into his killer mode as he reloaded the Thompson Contender.
"What of your master Lancer?" Inquired Artoria.
"I know not where he is right now but the fact that I have not begun dematerializing means that he still lives." Diarmuid still had hope that his Kayneth would survive whatever ordeal that he was placed in. The beggar's foreshadowing had done little to ease his worries, however.
"KILL THEM!" The beggar roared as every silver beast in the room now begun to swarm the group.
The group nodded before assuming a tight circle formation as the first silver beasts pounced on them with their claws out.
What was displayed was on a whole new level.
Lancer and Saber were a flurry of blades and mana. Each strike felled ten beasts as they put their legendary skills to the test. Body parts and blood flew as the horde of beasts were being met by an unstoppable storm of steel.
Kiritsugu and Maiya were firing their weaponry with deadly precision, a testament to how well trained they were as mercenaries. No ammunition was wasted as each beast was felled with the exact number of bullets. No time was wasted as the two were lost in their worlds, but always there to assist the other without any need to voice it. One silver beast broke through Saber and Lancer's defense and was aiming to eviscerate the Magus Killer's back. Just as the longest nail was about to scrape his back, Maiya shot down the silver beast without even looking. Such as the bond between these two.
The remaining Assassins had their daggers flying through the air like a whirlwind of steel. Any beast that got passed Lancer and Saber were swiftly dispatched by the Assassins.
Irisviel had her familiars flying above the group raining down magical projectiles on the horde while Tokiomi was shooting barrages of fireballs into any concentrated clusters of silver beasts. While the silver beasts were pouring with a seemingly endless supply; the masters and servants were so concentrated that the horde died out as the last vestiges of silver beasts met their unfortunate ends at the hands of Lancer and Saber.
"DIE!" The beggar screamed as he ripped Paarl's skeletal neck off as he began devouring Paarl's head. A second later a loud thundercloud resounded as the new force of nature's roar shook the chamber. The once puny electricity currents that were coursing through his skins were now raging thunderstorms that singed anything near it.
However, this new show of power would not deter the group as they attacked with a newfound source of strength.
Tokiomi and Irisviel's familiars sent out a collective barrage of spells that soared towards the beggar. Snarling, the beggar shot off a burst of electricity that collided with the spells, a massive smoke cloud resulted from the collision.
From the smoke, the remaining Assassin emerged from it. Working as one, the fifteen remaining Hassans were a blur as they moved around the Abhorrent Beast. The empowered beast tried to snatch any of the evasive Assassins but whenever he reached for one; the result would be his victim dodging just out of reach while the others painted the beast's back with daggers.
The beggar roared in frustration as he concentrated a ball of energy at his back that once imploded, generated a shockwave that pushed the Assassins out from their assault.
As the Assassins were pushed out, Lancer and Saber made themselves known.
In a strange move, Diarmuid threw Gae Buidhe into the beast's left arm. The force behind the throw staggered the beggar as the yellow spear buried itself deep into the flesh. He was about to wrench it free from his arm until he noticed Saber was ready to strike. Ignoring the pain, he reached out to swat the King of Knights away. However, the combined distractions of the sudden onslaught and Gae Buidhe's magical properties had left the beggar ignorant of the fact that Excalibur was swirling with its divine winds.
The beggar could only look in shock as the divine winds of Excalibur tore his right arm to shreds, the hide of a beast being no match for the might of Excalibur. He could no voice his agony as Lancer lept over Saber and tore his yellow spear free before creating a giant diagonal slash across the beggar's back. The combined pain of losing his right arm and a giant gash on his back, the abhorrent beast fell to his knees.
The smoke parted to reveal Kiritsugu with his Thompson Contender ready to fire. Without missing a beat, a singular bullet was fired that slammed itself into the head of the beggar as the mystic code took effect. "Dammit," Was all the beggar could say before collapsing onto the ground before disappearing in a cloud of mist.
The once chaotic sewer chamber had finally died down, they had won.
Irisviel began walking to where Paarl was resting, garnering the confusion of everyone else as she began feeling the wall for something.
"Iri what are you..." Kiritsugu trailed off as his wife managed to activate a hidden switch that opened up a little chamber in the wall. Reaching down she pulled out a human boy with red hair as she held the terrified boy and walked back to the group.
"I guess something good came out of this mess," Asasko smiled. Even if her personas had now been limited to fifteen servants, the safety of the boy made it all better.
"Can you tell me who you are?" Irisviel gently asked the boy in arms, careful not to add any stress to the already distressed boy.
"I-I-I," The boy began stuttering as the horror of whatever had happened to him was still fresh in his mind.
Kiritsugu sighed as he pinched his nose with his fingers before looking back at the boy, his features softening. Walking forward he gently took the boy from Irisviel's grasp and looked at the boy with a warm fatherly face.
"It's alright now they're gone now; you don't need to tell us your name if your still scared, but know that nothing will hurt you as long as I am here." The group looked in shock as they witnessed the Magus Killer calm the child down. It wasn't every day that they would see the infamous killer be a warm fatherly figure.
It worked as the boy nodded before shakily providing his name.
"M-My name is S-Shirou."
From the shadows, Simon nodded in approval before vanishing. He needed to prepare for his part of the plan.
Kayneth did not how long he had been stumbling in the dark. He had fallen in a dark tunnel that he could barely see two feet in front of him.
He was wobbling when he walked as he was pretty sure that he had sprained his ankle when he fell. The only reason why he wasn't yelping with pain was all the recent events with losing his wife to the clutches of Caster.
"Sola, Sola," He mumbled. Maybe he was beginning to lose his mind down here, maybe the wound on his head was making him delirious when a silver beast had nicked his head with its claws before he disposed of it.
He didn't know how long he walking for until he heard the sound of chiming bells. It almost reminded him of his wedding day with his beloved wife.
In one step his trek in the darkness had illuminated itself as he found himself no longer in the sewers but in a chapel decorated to that of a wedding. A heavenly tune was playing as he walked an aisle that was decorated with an abundance of white roses.
That all led up to his wife dressed in the finest wedding dress he had ever seen.
"Sola!" He cried out as he began running to embrace his wife. He no longer cared if this was a hallucination or a trap. The stress had piled up to the point that he grown delirious and seeing his wife was the breaking point.
He embraced his wife as hard as he could as he sobbed into her dress. "Kayneth," Her heavenly voice had eased all his burdens as he could finally let go of all the stress he had been holding.
"Look at me," She cupped his cheek with her hand as she made him look at her. He could see her divine face as she smiled at him.
"Look at me," Her smile grew malicious as Kayneth noted that he had never seen her smile like that before.
"Sola?" He whispered as the veil disappeared in front of him as he looked around and noticed that that chapel was all an illusion and he was really in a dimly lit chamber in the sewers. Dread set in as he looked back at his wife, unable to bear what came next.
He was no longer in the arms of his wife but of a horrid creature with a bulbous head looking at him with many eyes. The magus tried to break free but the Winter lantern's arms had trapped him as she brought him closer to her. "Look at me," Sola-Ui repeated.
"No, no, no," Mumbled Kayneth before he fully broke down as tears began streaming from his eyes. "NO!" He cried out as Sola-Ui revealed her multiple mouths and begun tearing into her poor husband. Volumen Hydrargyrum collapsed into a sad puddle as its master's body was being torn to shreds by his beloved wife. A gruesome death later, Kayneth's mangled body fell to the floor.
"Diarmuid, Diarmuid, Diarmuid," She repeated as she lovingly cradled Kayneth's arm that held her beloved servant's Command seals. If one was to draw parallels between her form and a normal Winter Lantern was that she was wearing clothes accustomed for a wedding then the regular noble clothing that one would see on a normal Winter Lantern.
"Wait for me, my beloved."
Chapter 18 done! Sorry, it took so long to get an update in, this chapter took me a while to write so forgive me for the late update. Shirou was indeed the boy taken and Sola-Ui kills off her husband in a very gory manner.
I hope you guys are staying safe in these trying times.
Welp that's all for now and as always...
May The Cosmos Shine In Your Favor This Day!